What a question!
The most strategic thing to be done in the coming months is to build up and establish a group of adult volunteers. A brochure and some personal initiative and follow-up on my part is necessary to make this happen, as well as some honest prayer for help!
There are many opportunities coming up: the big one is the Scholastic Book Fair at the end of February. I'd like to have a re-dedication of our SLIC at that time, so there are some clean up and cosmetic tasks that should still be done. For example, some signage, some posters and bulletin boards, some adjustment of the computer furniture, and (maybe) some new fabric in brighter colours here and there to spruce the place up. I think a sign at the door would also be appropriate.
So many ideas, so little time...
Sunday, December 31, 2006
New Year's Ketchup- What has gone well?
First, I must thank my colleague LB for her role in getting the schedule straight. She shared the vision of having equal time in the SLIC for all middle school classes. The middle schoolers have generally accepted the idea of coming to the library on a regular basis.
The booktalk/podcasts have been really cool, especially to see that some kids really shine in this type of media work. We have an entire webpage to show for it: http://vmbruins.com/podcasts.htm .
I have also enjoyed working with the primary kids. This too has gone "well" which means that I am learning lots of new things about this age group and how to relate to them!
The ongoing weeding and cleanup has gone well. I can see positive results in the look of the room. Giving the dicarded books away has been a great way to connect with some of our parents, and kids too.
We have been given funds to buy at least 2 more workstations for the SLIC, which is awesome! I sense the support of the parents groups at our school through these commitments.
A new parent volunteer has come along and has been a huge help.
The kids library helpers, especially the juniors, have been immensely helpful and they enjoy being able to help out. Such enthusiasm!
The booktalk/podcasts have been really cool, especially to see that some kids really shine in this type of media work. We have an entire webpage to show for it: http://vmbruins.com/podcasts.htm .
I have also enjoyed working with the primary kids. This too has gone "well" which means that I am learning lots of new things about this age group and how to relate to them!
The ongoing weeding and cleanup has gone well. I can see positive results in the look of the room. Giving the dicarded books away has been a great way to connect with some of our parents, and kids too.
We have been given funds to buy at least 2 more workstations for the SLIC, which is awesome! I sense the support of the parents groups at our school through these commitments.
A new parent volunteer has come along and has been a huge help.
The kids library helpers, especially the juniors, have been immensely helpful and they enjoy being able to help out. Such enthusiasm!
New Year's Ketchup
After 4 months in the library-teaching business it's time to reflect.
- What has gone well?
- What has not gone well?
- What remains to be done?
- What do I enjoy?
- What do I struggle to enjoy?
- What evidence do I see of enriched student learning?
- What evidence do I have that I'm on the right track?
Overall vision for the Library Resource Centre
Written Sept. 2006
It is my purpose here to gather the various "library" items into four categories: technology, program and collection and setup. Technology is computer equipment; program is the activities that teachers and students will undertake towards learning; collection refers to the hard-copy assets of the library such as the books, CDs, pictures and whatever else is deemed necessary; setup is the arrangement of the room including furniture, shelving, decor and taking into consideration its user-friendliness.
Technology
The goal is to have 8 computer workstations, internet capable, 1 catalogue computer and 1 circulation computer. Our network upgrade will provide the capacity to do this. We already have the computers, because four workstations were moved from the computer lab, leaving the number there at 30. A listening centre should be established to support books on tape, CD books and music listening. A projection unit is already in our possession. However, as other teachers make more use of this unit, we will need a second one which would mostly remain in the library.
Program
Teacher Involvement and support-
One of the ways that our schedule will support teachers is by creating regular library support periods for each middle school class, and by having regular visits by the primary-junior classes. The middle school teachers will be teaming up with me to decide which part of their program I will deliver. The library can be a great place for literature circles to meet, for students to learn multi-media creation and presentation skills, and to do research.
Teachers will also be encouraged to be involved in promoting reading and literature in new ways, using book talks and perhaps even by using a weblog to publish student book reviews. This use of technology would be a significant area of growth for our staff and would bring the benefit of creating on-line material that parents and relatives can enjoy, increasing our home and school contact.
Adult Volunteers-
Two adult volunteers should be invited to work about a half-day per week. These volunteers could help out with many ongoing tasks pertaining to the library collection, and they may also help out in story time with the younger classes. Some adults may enjoy doing book talks as well.
Students-
A regular schedule of library helpers will be created. I'd like to have students from some junior classes and most middle school grades on this schedule. Two circulation helpers will also be chosen from each class to do checkout and checkin for their class when visiting the library.
It is my purpose here to gather the various "library" items into four categories: technology, program and collection and setup. Technology is computer equipment; program is the activities that teachers and students will undertake towards learning; collection refers to the hard-copy assets of the library such as the books, CDs, pictures and whatever else is deemed necessary; setup is the arrangement of the room including furniture, shelving, decor and taking into consideration its user-friendliness.
Technology
The goal is to have 8 computer workstations, internet capable, 1 catalogue computer and 1 circulation computer. Our network upgrade will provide the capacity to do this. We already have the computers, because four workstations were moved from the computer lab, leaving the number there at 30. A listening centre should be established to support books on tape, CD books and music listening. A projection unit is already in our possession. However, as other teachers make more use of this unit, we will need a second one which would mostly remain in the library.
Program
Teacher Involvement and support-
One of the ways that our schedule will support teachers is by creating regular library support periods for each middle school class, and by having regular visits by the primary-junior classes. The middle school teachers will be teaming up with me to decide which part of their program I will deliver. The library can be a great place for literature circles to meet, for students to learn multi-media creation and presentation skills, and to do research.
Teachers will also be encouraged to be involved in promoting reading and literature in new ways, using book talks and perhaps even by using a weblog to publish student book reviews. This use of technology would be a significant area of growth for our staff and would bring the benefit of creating on-line material that parents and relatives can enjoy, increasing our home and school contact.
Adult Volunteers-
Two adult volunteers should be invited to work about a half-day per week. These volunteers could help out with many ongoing tasks pertaining to the library collection, and they may also help out in story time with the younger classes. Some adults may enjoy doing book talks as well.
Students-
A regular schedule of library helpers will be created. I'd like to have students from some junior classes and most middle school grades on this schedule. Two circulation helpers will also be chosen from each class to do checkout and checkin for their class when visiting the library.
Reworking the schedule, etc.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Here are my thoughts on reworking the timetable. I'm guided by two basic ideas: First, the primary/ junior kids really only need the library as a regular source of interesting, good quality reading material. They need to get into the "library habit." On the other hand, middle school kids need the library as a place to tackle project-based learning where they have a chance to interact with ideas, solve problems, discuss things under the guidance of a tutor or facilitator. And of course, they need good literature as well.
So, guided by the above, here are my recommendations:
1.) Having each primary and junior class cycle through the library 3 times over 10 days is excessive. Once a week for a 30 minute book exchange would be sufficient. Perhaps the primary teachers could receive their release time in another way...
2.) The fact that I have a grade 5 class scheduled six times over 10 days is also less than ideal. Consider the fact that during those 5 periods no other students can use the library, because it is full and I am basically unavailable to supervise a second group during that time. The grade 5's program is fragmented, and time is also lost during travel time and settling time. This particular group of grade 5s needs resourcing in small groups and I believe my time would be better suited to working in some sort of literacy support role, rather than being locked into all of that prep coverage for their teacher.
3.) The same argument could be made for the extra library periods that were given to class 73, 62 and 82, totalling 4 periods. This resultant patchwork of library time is not equitable, and really doesn't open up the library to any other kids. As it stands now, the resource centre (which has received hundreds of new books waiting to be shelved) is NOT actually available to any middle school classes outside of those few hole-plugging ones.
4.) What is needed is a fairly open timetable that allows for partial class groups to be sent with specific tasks that I can support, facilitate and teach. Research shows the benefits of this type of work. For example, the media component of a language arts classes can be met by working with specific groups on various projects on a pull-out basis that might, say, last for a couple of weeks for each group. In this manner, a class of 30 students could work in four groups over a term. Other tasks could be handled by splitting the class into two larger groups of 10 to 15 at a time. Thinking this way, the library schedule would be derived by purposefully pairing up the library with each language class on an equitable basis.
Here are my thoughts on reworking the timetable. I'm guided by two basic ideas: First, the primary/ junior kids really only need the library as a regular source of interesting, good quality reading material. They need to get into the "library habit." On the other hand, middle school kids need the library as a place to tackle project-based learning where they have a chance to interact with ideas, solve problems, discuss things under the guidance of a tutor or facilitator. And of course, they need good literature as well.
So, guided by the above, here are my recommendations:
1.) Having each primary and junior class cycle through the library 3 times over 10 days is excessive. Once a week for a 30 minute book exchange would be sufficient. Perhaps the primary teachers could receive their release time in another way...
2.) The fact that I have a grade 5 class scheduled six times over 10 days is also less than ideal. Consider the fact that during those 5 periods no other students can use the library, because it is full and I am basically unavailable to supervise a second group during that time. The grade 5's program is fragmented, and time is also lost during travel time and settling time. This particular group of grade 5s needs resourcing in small groups and I believe my time would be better suited to working in some sort of literacy support role, rather than being locked into all of that prep coverage for their teacher.
3.) The same argument could be made for the extra library periods that were given to class 73, 62 and 82, totalling 4 periods. This resultant patchwork of library time is not equitable, and really doesn't open up the library to any other kids. As it stands now, the resource centre (which has received hundreds of new books waiting to be shelved) is NOT actually available to any middle school classes outside of those few hole-plugging ones.
4.) What is needed is a fairly open timetable that allows for partial class groups to be sent with specific tasks that I can support, facilitate and teach. Research shows the benefits of this type of work. For example, the media component of a language arts classes can be met by working with specific groups on various projects on a pull-out basis that might, say, last for a couple of weeks for each group. In this manner, a class of 30 students could work in four groups over a term. Other tasks could be handled by splitting the class into two larger groups of 10 to 15 at a time. Thinking this way, the library schedule would be derived by purposefully pairing up the library with each language class on an equitable basis.
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